Thankful Thursday

As another week draws to a close (today is my Friday this week!), I find myself with more and more to be thankful for. But let's not get too deep and thoughtful, eh?

1. I'm thankful for new friends. We recently started going to a married small-group with a church in Menlo Park, and are meeting new couples our age and trying to get to know each other more. Tonight we go to Sky High for trampoline dodgeball (this sounds like a recipe for my first broken bone), then out to froyo afterwards. FUN! I'm also loving getting to know Nolan's colleagues and their spouses. Such fun people! Basically, there are a lot more opportunities than I'd thought.
2. I'm thankful for dropping gas prices. I think this was the first time I've paid less than $3.60 in awhile. Sad, but still :)
3. I'm so thankful for the time I've gotten to spend with Nolan. We just have so much fun together, and he is the only reason why I rush home in the evenings (when he's not working an evening shift).
4. I'm thankful for my conscience. I haven't been taking care of myself as well as I usually do in the past few weeks since we've moved, for one reason or another, and I can feel it. I don't really gain weight, but I soften up and stiffen up. I can't stretch as far or as easily in yoga, and my muscles ache after exercise because they're cold. I've also not been eating as well, and I feel guilty because I know it isn't good for my body. I want to be healthy, not just to look good, but because I want to feel good and treat my body respectfully. So my conscience helps.
5. I'm thankful for the amazing weather forecast we have for this weekend - and a new AC to help deal with the heat! WOO!
6. I'm thankful for efficiency. I know summers here at work are absolutely crazy times, and I've learned from the previous 2 summers at this job, exactly what I need to do to keep the machine well-oiled and things running smoothly so that I don't get overwhelmed. Hopefully it will continue this way!
7. I'm thankful it's my birthday tomorrow, because hey, who doesn't love birthdays?

With that, have a lovely 4th of July weekend!!!

pwned: residency?

So far, I'm thoroughly loving Nolan's residency. I mean, he's gotten mornings and evenings to spend with me for most of the last week, and he looks good in those scrubs ;) Plus, he's being paid now (yay!) and is happy having something to do again. Saturday morning we had breakfast and went on a bike ride together. Sunday morning we went to small group and then church together before playing chess and eating lunch together. Monday night, we went out for a walk around 8:30pm in our pajamas, then decided we'd rather sit at a starbucks and sip hot (decaf) coffees while shooting the breeze. So we did. Tuesday I came home to him watching "Bridesmaids" with George (who's staying with us temporarily until his new apartment in Palo Alto is available). Tonight we're going to some friends' house for dinner and tomorrow night we're going to a trampoline place to play trampoline dodgeball with our small group. Friday we're celebrating my birthday with a fun dinner date, and we haven't even planned out anything after that, except a gamenight, pisco sours, and possible BBQ on Sunday night with friends. Does this sound like what I had imagined? NOPE. On the otherhand, he's still technically in orientation shifts, so...

SOB. I guess I won't get my hopes up, and just enjoy this time.

sub-urban

Hola chickadees! Or, as Nolan said yesterday, "chick-a-poo-poo". Don't know why he called me that as I headed to bed, but I think it had to do with the fact that he was playing Warcraft, and sometimes that messes with his ability to communicate coherently.

Yesterday, we received 2 good things from our gracious landlords:
1. A new air-conditioning unit. Praise the Lord. Seriously, it is so weird to go from bundling up YEAR ROUND and having cold, raw chilblains always, to dying of heat stroke in my own house. But there you have it. So we're happy about that.
2. A new little bistro table for the front yard! This was just an after-thought from our landlords, who thought we'd enjoy a bistro table to sit at together on saturday mornings while we sip our coffee and watch the birds. See?


Speaking of birds: I also am going fully suburban here, because I bought my first bird-feeder. We have TONS of birds (even owls in the evening!) around our house, and thought it would be fun to get them all in one place. Also, Milo has been SO ENTHRALLED with it so far...the other day, he was staring so intently at the birds on the feeder that he totally missed a ginger tabby-cat slinking along our fence. Cat-sense FAIL. Anyway, it took the birds a day to get used to this new toy, but as you can see, after only 3 days, the stupid twits have already eaten half of the contents! This may prove to be an expensive habit:

We're also seeing some bullying so far. The other day a bunch of finches were happily munching on seeds, when a gigantic bluejay came and sat on top of the feeder and shook it heartily, knocking them off before flying off into the sunset, undoubtedly cackling to himself.

Nolan's been officially working for a few days now, and even got his fancy new scrubs that are emblazoned with "Nolan Caldwell, MD" on the chest. He looks so professional and smokin' that I attempted to take a picture on his way out the other day:

...but only caught him while eating his banana bread and scolding me about taking pictures at inopportune moments. Heh.

Tonight I am hanging out with the lovely Ash U at her place in our old 'hood, and so I drove into the city this morning, parked, and took the muni downtown. And let me just say: LIFE IS SO UNFAIR. Apparently, a week after we moved out of the city, the city decided that people in the Sunset need another means of transportation downtown (ya think?), and that the N-Judah is not good enough (...or even close in my opinion). So: they created the N-Express, which basically picks up folks until 19th avenue, which is pretty much where I got on before, and then it doesn't stop at all until Bush and Montgomery Streets downtown...which is a block from where I work. It took all of 15-20 minutes to get there, and there wasn't a single weirdo on it. Why didn't they create this 4 years ago when it would have made a world of difference for moi? Because San Francisco hates me. Deeply.

Quote of the Day:
Nolan (via text): "I love you like leather daddies love Andrew Cuomo."

Thankful Thursday

I've come to realize that my Thankful Thursday posts are generally pretty vague. I mean, I am usually grateful for the week being almost over, for some random thing like my delicious lunch or the temperature in my yoga class being just right. But really, I realized the reason for this the other day in yoga. At the end of class (which is where I got the inspiration for these thankful posts), the instructor has us sit quietly for a moment, and asks us to think about something we're grateful for. When I try to pinpoint just one thing, I find my mind wandering over all the many things I'm grateful for, and come to the conclusion that I can't pick just one. I have such a richly blessed life that I can't help but be thankful for everyone and everything around me. So even though I've mentioned all of these at some point or another, I'm going to just be super general here, and mention those big-ticket things and basic realities that I am SO THANKFUL for. Because these are what I think of every single day. I'm not even going to explain each one because when I try to do that for these things, I always feel like I could say so much more, and ultimately end up saying not enough.

1. I'm thankful for my relationship and knowledge of God.
2. I'm thankful for my wonderful, amazing and perfect (for me!) husband.
3. I'm thankful for our parents and my 2 families.
4. I'm thankful for our awesome home.
5. I'm thankful for our little pet friend, Milo (who turns 5 today!).
6. I'm thankful for my friends, near and far.
7. I'm thankful to have reliable modes of transportation.
8. I'm thankful for our jobs and that we both love them!!!
9. I'm thankful that I spend significant portions of my days laughing...and can't remember the last time that I cried. Oh wait: I cried in Harry Potter 7 (part 1) when Hermione put a wreath on Harry's parents graves. Also when Dobby died. So there's that.


Because I'm slightly OCD, I tried desperately to come up with a #10 that was general enough to fit in, but all I got was little things like "my gym" or "that it's summer". So...I'm breaking the cycle and ending on an uneven number.

In celebration of the birthday boy, who is sleeping in the sun digesting his canned food right now (I'm sure)...

welted

Due to the extreme heat yesterday, my sunny-side-up brain forgot to mention my weekend. So. Friday night there wasn't too much to mention - we got dressed up and went to a dinner in downtown Palo Alto for the Emergency department. We actually left early because Josh B arrived, and the rest of the evening was spent with him. We got up early on Saturday and gave Josh a biking tour of Atherton (trying to impress!), while he informed us of interesting little facts about our 'hood. Like:
-it is the 2nd most expensive zip code in the US
-it is 78% white (this is rare in the Bay Area, trust me)
-76% of the households in Atherton are married couples
-median income is over $200,000, with median home price listed as $4,000,000
...and most interestingly, notable current residents include:
-Shirley Temple
-Willie Mays
-Eric Schmidt
-Charles Schwab
-Jerry Rice
-Meg Whitman
-Cheryl Burke
...and of course many others...those were just the ones I immediately recognized.

After our biking tour, we had some coffee and breakfast and greeted our 4 other guys who had just arrived, and then the 7 of us drove down to Santa Clara for some paintballing! The courses were interesting there, with giant castles and sets that looked straight out of a warzone. There were 13 year old kids to 60 year old men playing, and the degrees of expertise were frightening. For example, Jacob got hit by a semi-pro shooter in the neck, and the welt ended up bleeding because of the force of the hit. I just got some minor welts, except for one on my shoulder where I got nailed TWICE in a row. It still hurts just to touch it, and I feel like I should explain to people that it's from paintballing and not that my husband is a wife-beater.

When we got back, everyone spent a few minutes stretching their aching muscles and stripping off their painted and VERY sweaty clothes, and then went home. Nolan and I lounged around all night eating cheese and crackers, and big glasses of wine. We felt like we deserved it :)

Sunday we went to church at Reality SF, then drove over to meet our friends Sam and Steven at Starbucks. We spent a few hours in the oh-so-hot sun chatting and catching up, then met our friends Jennie and Ross, who are visiting currently from Scotland. We only get to see them once a year, but it is SUCH a treat! I'm already looking forward to our next Skype date.

So that was pretty much it. Seeing as how we thankfully didn't finish the bottle of wine on Saturday, I'm going to treat myself again and take advantage of it.

Heat wave

We have officially moved from the coldest spot in summer to one of the hottest (not really, it just feels that way in comparison). I mean, it's 9:30pm right now, and I'm sitting in my chair typing this and literally sliding down in my seat because of the sweat on my legs. Whew. Of course, it was also a monstrously hot day EVERYWHERE today, and so in a place where it's already been pretty hot...for example: today in downtown San Francisco while I was working, it was 84 degrees outside. How is that even possible for San Francisco? Anyway: normally when it's 60 degrees in San Francisco (the norm year-round), it's been 80 degrees here in our new neighbourhood. So you can guess what 84 in SF made it here :( Also Nolan hasn't gotten the AC out of the garage yet, so we haven't been able to use it yet. Just ceiling fans (which terrify Milo) and open windows...which don't do a lot of good when it's that hot outside. Nolan's been taking refuge in walking around in boxers only 24/7 and going through gallons of homemade blueberry iced tea.

Because I'm a psycho, I also decided to do a long workout in my living room tonight. I think I lost a pound in the first 30 minutes just from sweating it off, and the workout itself didn't have a lot to do with it.

Tonight my plan is to lay in bed in my shorts and tanktop, with my wet hair (bonus cooling points!), ban Milo/natural heater from the room, and just lay listening to the crickets as I fall asleep.


Nolan today informed me that the sweet new maxi-dress I bought was, in fact, a mumu. He also sent me a quote he heard on the morning show today: "mumus are for fat chicks". He's lucky his wife laughs at that sort of thing.

Thankful Thursday

Another week, come and gone...and yet instead of mourning my life slipping away week by week, all I can think of is TGIF (almost). You doubters out there are probably typing me a nasty-gram about how I always forget Thankful Thursday...no, I'm not making that up - I have gotten those emails. Which also begs the question: why emails? There are almost never comments on this blog, but oh, there are emails. Anyway: it's late, but I'm still feeling thankful and taking the time to blog about it. Let's jump right in, shall we?

1. I'm thankful for my glasses. There are times when I really hate them and hate that I have to wear them, but when I have contact issues, my trusty Palin-esque goggles save the day. They also make me feel smarter, which is never a bad thing.
2. I'm thankful for Nolan's new colleagues! I got to meet most of them tonight, and they are GREAT. Really. I think I met a kindred spirit or two already. Thank God they probably don't care enough about me yet to google me and find this blog, or they'd exit the premises rapidly. Speaking of which: Nolan was standing in line at a gelato place today behind STEVE JOBS. And he asked to take a picture of him for a scavenger hunt he was doing with his colleagues, but apparently Steve Jobs just turned around and walked out without saying a word. While wearing his signature black turtleneck and glasses and jeans. So...not everyone down here is great. BUT: I love meeting new friends and also meeting those who will be some of Nolan's greatest supporters and friends over the next 3 years (at least).
3. I'm thankful for coffee. Sweet mercy, it's delicious and life-giving. Without it, I would have surely perished this week.
4. I'm thankful this week is over? After 2 days of straight orientation with our interns, one full-day trip to Sacramento with them (and a night in a hotel for me, in which I slept HORRIBLY...rendering that coffee VERY NECESSARY), and fire-drills left and right prepping for one thing or another next week, I need to just be "off" for a little while. I just need to get through tomorrow and then I'll be good.
5. I'm thankful for good friends and good fun! This weekend we're going paintballing in Santa Clara, and then up to Davis to visit some dear friends who are visiting from Scotland. Hi Campbells!
6. I'm thankful for this video that Ash U sent me, reminding me that life is too short to just sit around and wait.
7. I'm thankful for our fans in our house. Suddenly living in a place where it's HOT has actually been a shock. In a good way mostly, but it still means we've got to remember to open windows and turn on fans so we don't overheat. This heat also means, however, that I can ride my bike alongside Nolan as he goes for a run at 8pm and it's still warm and light outside. Fantastic!

Happy Thursday!

Happiness is an understatement

Lately I've spent a lot of time just wishing things won't change. I know they will, especially as Nolan starts work in just a few short days...but our lives right now seem like nothing else could possibly happen to make them better. We're trying to live each moment we have and enjoy them, but in the back of my mind I can't help thinking about how little time I have left in this state. But: lest I slip into being a glass-half-empty kind of person, let me refocus my thoughts and say that perhaps things WILL only get better. Even though I don't see how it's actually possible to improve on how things are right now.

This morning, I got to go in to work around 11am, since I'll be on a "field-trip" of sorts with our interns until about midnight. I get to stay at a hotel in the city tonight as recompense and because the BART may not run that late, but how can I even enjoy it when I'm going to be so tired that I'll just fall into bed. Also: Nolan-less. BUT: waking up late and having breakfast and coffee with Nolan while watching the Daily Show and being lazy was so nice, it might be worth it.

Last week I finally gave in and went to get my wedding rings soldered together. Maybe it's because it's wedding season, but people have been noticing my rings more and commenting on why I have them separate, and how the diamonds on the band are always facing down because they flip over, blah blah blah. So I sat myself down and looked at why I hadn't done it yet, which was mainly because I just plain didn't want to. I like having them separate so I can just wear one...but then Nolan reminded me that when I just wear the band, I usually wear my cheap-o Mexican silver band anyway, and keep the other 2 in a box. Hmm. So I caved, and when I got them back, not only was it done BEAUTIFULLY with extra gold added to the bottom and polished and cleaned so that they shined LIKE THE SUN AND RAINBOWS AND UNICORNS, but they also did it for free, even though the estimate was $$$. So I gave them a smokin' review on yelp and proceeded to admire it gleaming in the sun all the way home. I'm still staring at it. I even tried to take a picture of it, but taking a picture of your ring sparkling is like trying to take a picture of the beautiful night sky: all you get is outlines and darkness and no stars at all. This could also be because my iPhone camera sucks.

Speaking of pictures...a few days ago, I received this text, with no message:

As it turns out, it was a wrong number. Epic!

Thankful Thursday

Last night for dinner, we tried a Thai place in our neighbourhood that was biking distance. Ka ra Kade Thai is a tiny place with a sumptuous interior that serves delicious food and just may be better, in my humble opinion, than even Marnee Thai in SF. The pad thai was the most flavourful that I've ever had, and the Thai iced tea was creamy and tasty. The only downside was that the men at the table next to us ordered some vile sour dish that smelled strongly of vomit and farts, and it TOTALLY ruined the delicious mango and sticky rice we were enjoying. Ah well. We also got a little lost biking home because we tried a bunch of new routes that all turned out to be dead-ends...but eh.

Today:
1. I am thankful for my gym. I've been there everyday this week and feel so refreshed and alive afterwards-partly because of the excellent classes and partly because of the awesome facilities. I love going back to work after lunch all pink-cheeked and freshly showered.
2. I'm thankful for my kindle. The hours I spend each day reading are some of my favourite.
3. I'm thankful for the layout of our bathroom and how we can toss Milo in there at night when he's naughty without worrying if he has all he needs for a few hours. Thank goodness for his little extra room in there.
4. I'm thankful for the Internet. I signed up for a social group this week to meet people my age in our new neighbourhood, and I just don't know how I'd do such a thing without the glorious world-wide-web.
5. I'm thankful that Nolan starts work soon. I'm also sad because I'll miss seeing him so much, but mostly happy because I know how antsy he is to get started at the hospital!

I'm thankful for so many other things, but also, as always, that it is almost the weekend! Wahoo!

Tonight, we ride

One of the best parts of living in a sunny, flat, friendly place, is that you can ride bikes everywhere. Last night, Nolan took me on a motorcycle ride through the lower part of the Santa Cruz mountains near our house, and it was breathtakingly beautiful up there. It smelled like mountain misery, and honestly I forgot how near to San Francisco we were. I'm determined to take my families up to those mountains when they visit, and eat at a cute little restaurant tucked away in the mountains, just to get a feel for it.

Tonight, we're riding our bikes to dinner, and then biking around exploring yet more of our amazing new neighbourhood. Maybe I'll finally get a picture of us on our bikes, but who knows. It's more fun to ride!

turds and whey

We went up to visit my parents for the weekend, and it was so relaxing and nice...but there is nothing that compares to coming home to a place you love. Though, there are downsides to living in a residential area - we got out of the car and Nolan instantly stepped in a big pile of dog crap. Welcome to the suburbs. (I guess it's better than getting out of the car and stepping in a pile of human crap - that's San Francisco style)

Nolan's parents sent me a link to an article in the local paper up in his hometown, where they are lauding him for his graduation from Med School. As they should be! I guess it was just funny because he hasn't actually lived there in so long.

After a 3-week hiatus from working out (mostly), I'm back on the boat. And sore. So sore. I even opted for buying my own milk and whey protein powder to keep at work so I don't have to keep using protein bars. Apparently a lot of these protein bars have sugar alcohols in them, which cause gas, and the effect it has on me is this bubbling feeling in my stomach which is NOT comfortable. So. When I work out at home, I use powder with milk, and it's the biggest treat - the best part of working out. I look forward to a tall cold glass of it. So it's about time I look forward to my refreshing treat at work rather than the bubbling stomach.

Life is so unfair: I just spent time and money highlighting my hair and now all I can think about is how great my hair will look when I dye it dark again. Boo.

Cue the email from my dad telling me the best colour is "the colour God gave me".

Thankful Thursday

Last weekend was a whirlwind. So much for a 6-day vacation! Seriously: we drove up super late Thursday to Oregon, getting in at about 2am, then crashed for a few hours before I had to LEAVE for Coos Bay at 7am to start wedding stuff. All the crazy stuff and events for the wedding happened, then back to Brookings for a couple days in which we rested, but I still felt like it was just a weekendand not any longer, and then we drove back down home on Tuesday evening. FINALLY I had a day to just rest and relax at home on Wednesday before heading back to work on Thursday (today). And whoo boy. I had me a lot of emails to catch up on. Anyway: Wednesday was awesome in that we got tons of stuff done, and mostly finished cleaning up (ahem: Nolan's room...), and took some boxes to Goodwill in Menlo Park, which turned out to be a "Goodwill Boutique" (wtf) meaning they wouldn't take our crap at their upscale charity store. We lounged around...and even got in a good dinner and watched "Thor"...which was a cool movie but not necessarily a great one. Eh. Also we ate pears. And DID WE EVER eat pears. Since one of the themes of the wedding was "the perfect pear", there were boxes upon boxes of pears left over, and guess who got to eat them in every single salad and at each meal and OH BY THE WAY WHY DON'T YOU TAKE A BOX HOME WITH YOU. I've been burping up pears for days now, AND WORSE. It's a good thing it's one of my favourite fruits, because otherwise I would have died of pear overdose a couple days ago. Also handfuls upon handfuls of pear candies = terrible idea. I spent the car-ride home listening to Milo cry while my insides threatened to hurl up pear jelly-bellys like an automatic weapon. Anyway. The good parts. The wedding went off without a hitch, and the rain even held off long enough to get some good shots outside, although I have to say that if you're reading this, Chelsey, you owe me a coffee for nearly making me go into hypothermia out there. xoxo.
Want to see?
Don't they look lovely?! Picture courtesy of (meaning I yanked it from facebook) Applewood Photography.
Also the less significant Caldwells at the wedding cleaned up pretty nicely (at least for the rehearsal: I don't have any good ones from the actual day yet):



And right here, I'm going to tell you that I'm putting up pictures of our new place (w00t w00t!) at the end of this post, but you have to slog through my thankfulness to get there. If there's anything I've learned from marketing and the business world...

1. I'm thankful for the GORGEOUS weather at our new home. I think I'm going to be thankful for this every single week FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. But seriously.
2. I'm thankful my sister-in-law and her new hubby are getting settled into their new lives. Such an exciting time and they had such a great send-off! But I'm a little bit thankful the wedding madness is over, heh. And I didn't even do that much for it!
3. I'm thankful I got to take yesterday off. I needed a lazy/productive day around the house.
4. I'm thankful we're done moving in at last!
5. I'm thankful for pears and other tasty foods, but please God, I need a little something else.
6. I'm thankful that I'm still enjoying my morning commute, and SPEAKING OF:
6b. I'm thankful that the Millbrae BART station always, ALWAYS smells like warm chocolate chip cookies in the mornings. I don't know why, and I probably don't want to know, but after the foul stenches of the Muni and of San Francisco herself...warm chocolate cookies? YES PLEASE.
7. I'm thankful for Nolan's new motorcyle. Oh, did I mention he got a new motorcycle? And that it's beautiful and perfect and purrs like a kitten? You should see how happy it makes him. Along with his new bikes, and his new egg-shaped car...sigh.


If you're still reading by now, you probably want to see pictures of our new home. Ready? Obviously these aren't all of them (I didn't include a picture of Milo's "room" or of the garage or the hallway, or random other angles, blah blah blah...but you get the picture.):

Kitchen:

Kitchen with our little dining area and leaf-less table:

Living Room:
What you didn't see in the previous one:

Bathroom:

Separate shower! Love!

Guest bedroom/Nolan's office/MANCAVE (Milo obviously needs his man time too):

Our bedroom:


Want to see more? Come visit us!